Last week we had a number of renditions of "Body and Soul" that predate the legendary Coleman Hawkins recording. Today our focus changes to the Hawkins recording and select interpretations by other tenor saxophonists.
First up is Hawkins' 1939 recording which became the model for most renditions that came later.
From 1956, we hear from Sonny Stitt with Jimmy Jones on piano.
From 1958, Sonny Rollins performing it as a saxophone solo for the MGM label.
John Coltrane recorded this for Atlantic Records with McCoy Tyner on piano, Steve Davis on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums.
Finally, one of several versions by long tall Dexter Gordon.
With respect to my recent post on St. James Infirmary which I linked on Facebook, one gentleman posted several additional versions of this 'jazz standard.' One of these was by a West Coast artist Saunders King from the forties. Born in Louisiana in 1909, Saunders King was a pioneering electric guitarist and vocalist who straddled the worlds pf blues and jazz in forties and fifties. His S.K. Blues was a hit, and an even bigger hit when covered by Big Joe Turner (and it also was performed by Jimmy Witherspoon and others). King also had a wonderful version of the Mary Lou Williams' penned What's Your Story Morning Glory, that was first recorded by Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy with Pha Terrell handling the vocal.
As a vocalist, King was very much in the vein of Terrell and Billy Eckstine, with a warmth in his baritone. And his jazzy guitar playing was an added attraction to his music. Later he would become Carlos Santana's father-in-law and he even recorded with this musical legend. He passed in 2000 after suffering a stroke in 1999. Ace Records (UK) has a fine CD of his best recordings available. Here are some of his recordings and a couple of covers.
Here is the first part of S.K. Blues.
Here is his rendition of St. James Infirmary.
Here he is playing the aptly titled instrumental Swingin'.
Here is the uptempo B Flat Blues.
Here is a top-ten R&B hit in 1949, Empty Bedroom Blues
And here is Big Fat Butterfly, a song Dexter Gordon would sometimes perform.
Here is the Dexter Gordon doing Big Fat Butterfly
And we close with Big Joe Turner with Pete Johnson with their hit version of S.K. Blues.
Wynonie Harris Don’t You Want To Rock? The King & Deluxe Acetate series Ace Records 2-CD set UK Import
Wynonie Harris, the great blue shouter known as “Mr. Blues,” is the subject of a superb double-CD reissue on the English Ace label which the label describes on its website as “23 of the R&B superstar’s seminal King sides in best-ever sound, plus an entire CD of alternates, all mastered from fresh transfers from the original acetates.” These are Harris’ first recordings for the Cincinnati based King Records label and find him backed by Dexter Gordon, Hot Lips Page, Tom Archia and many others with songs that would become classics, including his cover of Roy Brown’s “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” heard with an alternate take and a breakdown take. There are the big band renditions of Louis Prima’s “Oh Babe!” and the Ruth Brown hit “Teardrops From My Eyes,” bawdy numbers like “She Just Won’t Sell No More,” and “I Like My Baby’s Pudding,” and the humor of “Grandma Plays the Numbers.” There is a lavish booklet with session-by-session annotation that comes with this. It is probably this writer’s favorite blues reissue of 2015.
I purchased this and it was published the the 2015 Jazz & Blues Report Gift Guide (downloadable from jazz-blues.com website as a pdf file that includes 2016 Gift Guide and Gift Guides from prior years). Here is the Wynonie Harris recording of "Grandma Plays the Numbers."
This is my blues column from the November 1976 Buffalo Jazz Report which had Dexter Gordon on the cover to promote his appearance at the Tralfamadore Cafe in November. As I noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report) have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz.
Albert King is one of the best known contemporary guitarist-singers in the blues and his new Utopia album Albert (BULI-
1731) is an attempt to present a commercially successful
album. Albert King's recordings have always manifested a
funkiness and when he was with Stax he had Booker T., and the
Stax crew providing sometimes sympathetic and sometimes
ridiculous music (Albert King sings Elvis). Despite disco
touches on some tracks, and a girl chorus on others this is
pretty direct music, and blues with a funky touch. Albert sings and plays straight forwardly, but is burdened
by overkill in the back up as he is drowned in a large band
setting. The music isn't bad or slick, just too busy. Also a
couple of Willie Dixon tunes I'm Ready and My Babe suffer
from the arrangements and the fact that Albert can't convey
the aggressiveness of Muddy Waters on I'm Ready, nor the
Iittle boy charm of LittIe Walter on My Babe. Stoll its not a
bad album as Albert does play with fire, but better material
and a more laid back playing would lead to a more satisfying
session of blues. But would a more satisfying set sell better?
I don't know. The Finest of Folk Bluesmen is a mistitled anthology as only
the John Lee Hooker tracks on this Bethlehem (BCP-6017)
anthology are country blues, the rest being mostly urban and
jazz oriented performances. Among those included are Eddie 'Cieanhead' Vinson, Jimmy Rushing, Lonnie Johnson and Memphis Slim and this is a very enJoyable set of mostly uptown
music from the late 1940s and the early 1950s.
Great Bluesmen/Newport (Vanguard VSD 17/78) is a collection of country blues recorded lve at various Newport Folk Festivals and is recommended especially for those who don't
have many blues records as it provides idroduction to a number of fine artists including Robert Pete Williams, Son House,
Mississippi John Hurt, and Skip James. John Lee Hooker and
Lightnin' Hopkins are not heard at their best though Robert
Pete WiIIiams' Levee Camp Blues, Skip James' Hard Time
Killing Floor Blues and Son Souse's Son's Blues areespecially
compelling.
Love For Sale (Steeplechase) is a newly issued live recording of Dexter Gordon during the period of his lengthy stay in Europe in the sixties and seventies which has been extensively documented primarily by Steeplechase. This is the fifth of a series Dexter in Radioland which makes available radio broadcasts from Montmartre Jazzhus. This series has extended at least to a fourteenth volume with a recent release Satin Doll. Long Tall Dexter on tenor sax was accompanied by an excellent band of Tete Montoliu on piano, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pederson on bass and Alex Riel on drums.
Besides the title track, Dexter and his combo also performs "I Guess I'll Hang My Tears To Dry," both numbers he first recorded on the classic Blue Note album, Go. The other performances include Big Bad Butterfly, with a vocal; an original Soul Sister, and a fast rendition of Cherokee.
After his introduction of the band and then his introduction to the Cole Porter penned classic that gives this release its title ("Old love, new love... love for sale"), is is quickly evident that he was in excellent form and the remainder of his band is top notch. The arrangement and tempo is from the Blue Note studio date. In his own manner he introduces the next number (a stunning ballad performance) to those in radio-land, "When I want rain, I get sunny weather, guess I'll hang my tears out to dry, out to dry. Arpeggio, s'il vous plait." "Big Bad Butterfly" provides a vehicle for swinging, amusing vocal jive followed by some hot tenor, sensational piano from Montoliu, and strong bass by Ørsted Pederson.
Cherokee opens with some swing trappings before Dexter launches in a straight bop rendition with echoes of Charlie Parker's Koko in the hot solo. Its a really nice performance which solos by everyone, but alas is an incomplete performance as the broadcast must have cut off in the middle of Riel's drum solo. This cutoff might be the only complaint about this first-rate recording as it caught Dexter in his prime, playing with great authority and panache.
I purchased this recording. And here is a taste of Dexter performing live.
In its slightly over a decade of existence, the Keystone Korner became one of the most celebrated jazz clubs in the world. It hosted a wide variety of artists and was the site for a number of legendary live recordings by Dexter Gordon, Art Blakey, Woody Shaw and others. Its story is the subject of a wonderful new book from Indiana University Press, “Keystone Korner: Portrait of a Jazz Club” by photographer Kathy Sloane.
Sloane frequented the club during its years and was able to shoot so many jazz artists, both legends like Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Elvin Jones, Rashaan Roland Kirk, Mary Lou Williams, Bill Evans, Miles Davis and so many others. In addition to her photographs, she also interviewed not simply artists who performed there, but Todd Barkan the owner, the wait staff and folks that frequented the club. Jazz poet and author Sascha Feinstein, editor of the semi-annual publication Brilliant Corners provided the introduction and edited the interviews. He also compiled the accompanying CD that contains performances from the Keystone.A number of classic performances were captured at the Keystone and the sampling here gives a range of the room.
Keystone Korner was tucked next to a San Francisco police station and when Todd Barkan purchased it and converted a blues bar into one of the great jazz clubs. Barkan booked a wide range of styles including local acts as well as major national acts and created an atmosphere that had major artists holding a benefit to enable Todd to have a kitchen and a liquor license. It was a relaxed atmosphere that did not neglect the local performers who often were the backing band for some national acts. Performers who at the time rarely played jazz clubs like Miles Davis played the Keystone and he booked acts like Sam Rivers that never graced the stage of the Village Vanguard in New York.
Through recollections of Bay area guitarist Calvin Keys, saxophonist Billy Harper, cook Ora Harris, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, poet Jack Hirschman, Fantasy Records publicist Terri Hinte, pianist George Cables, drummer Eddie Marshall, legendary jazz record producer Orren Keepnews, writer, teacher & poet Al Young, trombonist Steve Turre, waitress Flicka McGurrin, Barkan and others the club’s history is weaved together along with the unusual sense of community around the room, It was somehow miraculously that Keystone Korner stayed alive on a shoe string budget as long as it did. Mixed in with Sloane’s images of Dexter, Elvin, Art Blakey, Mary Lou Williams, Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Bobby Hutchinson, Betty Carter, Percy Heath, and so many more and a CD with over an hour of great jazz.
Keystone Korner: Portrait of a Jazz Club is terrific as a window into a legendary jazz club in addition to serving as a coffee table book. It is a fabulous book that jazz lovers will treasure to enjoy the photographs and the story of a fabled room.
I purchased this book. Here is a clip from you tube of Ahmad Jamal at the Keystone Korner in 1981
Being Prez: The Life & Music of Lester Young Dave Gelly Oxford University Press (2007)
Its been nearly five decades when Lester Young passed away and while he has been served by a few very scholarly biographies, the level of detail and technical discussion of his music may have put off some which is a shame since Young was a major innovator in jazz history. At a time when Coleman Hawkins was the man on tenor saxophone, Lester created a totally new style that influenced countless subsequent tenor players but saxophonists of all styles including the musical revolutionary Charlie Parker. British music journalist and saxophonist Dave Gelly has provided us with a concise consideration of Young’s life and music making use of the important works of Frank Büchmann-Muller, Louis Porter and Douglas Henry Daniels among others. Gelly takes us from Young’s youth, his father’s “abduction” of him from his mother’s home and growing up in the family band his father led to the last days as his health was failing him and his passing.
Lester Young’s journey includes playing as part of a circus in a minstrel show and also on the T.O.B.A. circuit. Then in 1926-27 the winter was spent in Minneapolis and while he later went back on tour with his father’s show, he dropped out rather than another tour in the Jim Crow south. Eventually he hooked up with Art Bronson’s Bostonians, and then the Blue Devils, Bennie Moten, a tour with King Oliver and eventually Bill ‘Count’ Basie. Lester established himself in the Kansas City scene and was a feared competitor in a jam session as recounted in the legendary one when Coleman Hawkins came to Kansas City. Not that long thereafter he was recruited for Fletcher Henderson’s Band but was never accepted there as the band wanted someone more in the line of Hawkins’ style.
A return to Kansas City led to his being back with Basie and the emergence of the Count and his band, who had their own travails to go through, including being induced to sign a horrible contract with Decca. But finally it led Lester into a recording studio where he waxed four sides for the American Record Combination under the name of Jones-Smith, since Basie was signed to Decca. Gelly writes: “This was the moment when Lester Young finally sidled out of the shadows, the moment when he ceased to be just a name, a rumor from the territory, a set of tall tales concerning jam sessions in bars and hotel lobbies and shoeshine parlors, and became a sound. For the first time, his music was caught, frozen onto shellac grooves and sent out into the world…”
About the first recording, Shoe Shine Boy, “Basie and the rhythm section play the introduction, setting tempo and mood, and then, after forty-five seconds, Lester young bursts forth. The first impression is of blazing energy and complete self-assurance. He plays with all the confidence and poise of a young man fully aware of his powers and in complete control of them. … Faced with such unhesitating fluency, it is easy to understand why other musicians at jam sessions would simply lay down their instruments and look goggle-eyed. … Here, constrained by the three-minute limit of the ten-inch, 78 RPM record, he confines himself to two choruses, sixty-four bars, lasting exactly one-minute, but it is obvious that he has barely hit his stride. The take was a perfect one… .”
From there on we follow Lester with the Basie Band as it plays various hotel rooms that the band perhaps was not suited for and start to make their marvelous recordings. He meets and begins a life-long friendship with Billie Holiday (some under Teddy Wilson’s name) and participates on a number of her finest recordings as well as plays behind her when she sings with Basie. Then there is his relationship with Texas tenor saxophonist Herschel Evans, whose style was more akin to Hawkins and while Basie exploited the contrasting styles on many recordings and performances. Evans alas was one of many jazz artists who died so prematurely. Lester would leave Basie and lead his own group, although as an individual he lacked the temperament and relied on assistance of others while producing more wonderful recordings.
Gelly’s concise and lively written biography certainly presents Young’s formidable musical legacy to us as he notes, “The beauty of Lester Young’s music endures.” Included is a thoughtful selected discography of Young’s recordings that add to the value of this biography of one of the seminal artists of jazz history.
I wrote this review in late 2007 for Jazz & Blues Report but do not believe the review was published. I may have received a review copy from the publisher.
Nat Cole's musical contributions and career need little elaboration. It should be noted that Hip-O-Select has put together a three CD set, Nat King Cole & Friends "Riffin': The Decca, JATP and Mercury Recordings.” The performances contained here, with the exception of five from 1936, come from the forties when Cole was emerging as a National star. This set comes in a 5 X 7 book that includes an essay by noted author David Ritz about the music contained on this disc. The book also includes full discographical information and has hard sleeves for each of the three CDs. One CD contains 17 tracks by the classic King Cole Trio along with the 1936 selections from Eddie Cole's Solid Senders, and the 1946 sessions by The Keynoters. The middle CD contains Cole’s performances at the legendary Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts, while the final CD includes his sessions with Dexter Gordon and Lester Young and alternate takes of selections with the Keynoters.
Among the 17 selections from 1947 the King Cole Trio are such iconic performances as “Sweet Lorraine,” and “Hit That Jive, Jack,” with Cole’s deft, sophisticated piano, warm vocals, and Oscar Moore’s sparkling guitar runs. Then there are instrumentals like the bouncy “This Side Up,” with Cole and Moore playing off each other. “Honeysuckle Rose,” shows Cole’s ability to spin a horn-like solo on Fats Waller’s stride classic as Moore responds with a similar guitar solo, before Cole’s piano provides a setting for bassist Wesley Smith. “Gone With a Draft,” has a lyric dealing with the wartime military draft, while “Early Morning Blues,” is a low-key, jazzy blues instrumental. and “Scotchin’ With Soda,” is more hip jive, while “That Ain’t Right,” is a vocal blues that perhaps anticipates the similarly uptown piano blues of Cecil Gant (and Charles Brown although Cole’s vocals are much less morose than those of Brown) several years in the future.
The 17 tracks by the Cole Trio are followed by 1936 recordings by Eddie Cole’s Solid Senders, a small group led by Nat’s brother on bass and occasional vocal. As Ritz notes, Nat’s playing is in the manner of Earl Hines on a swinging combo while brother Eddie sings “Honey Hush,” a jive lyric about Sadie Green with punchy horns (trumpet and two saxophones) and a full rhythm section. The other four selections (including an alternate take) are peppy instrumentals including “Thunder” that has nice solos from trumpeter Kenneth Roane as well as Nat and the two saxophonists both of whom display a fair amount of vibrato in the tenor sax solos. Cole’s playing sounds quite modern against the horns. These tracks are followed by the four issued 1946 sides by The Keynoters that featured alto saxophonist Willie Smith along with Cole (as Lord Calvert), bassist Red Callendar and drummer Jackie Mills. Compared to the wobbly playing of the saxophonists with Eddie Cole, Smith is a more modern player and was along with Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges among the finest swing alto saxophonists with a nice tone that hints at the blues. After a wonderful performance of “The Way You Look Tonight,” a torrid instrumental, “Airiness a La Nat,” opens with some wonderful Cole playing before some splendid playing from Smith. This is swing at its finest.
The second disc contains all of Nat King Cole’s performances at the legendary 1944 initial Jazz at the Philharmonic Concerts, that in contrast to the cool trio Cole Trio, was wide open jam sessions. In July, 1944 Cole helps anchor a rhythm section of Les Paul on guitarist, either Johnny Miller or Red Callendar on bass and Lee Young on drums with saxophones by Jack McVea and Illinois Jacquet, and trombone by J.J. Johnson. McVea robustly kicks off “Lester Leaps In,” followed by hot buzzing from Johnson and Cole’s hot playing who is followed by Jacquet. Jacquet's incendiary solos starts off with a hint of Lester Young before he gets down with a hot solo that would set the template for all the bar walkers and honkers as he bellows on the tenor. Les Paul follows with strong single note runs mixed with chords before Cole takes a brief solo chorus as the horns take the song out. McVea sets the table for the swinging “Tea For Two,” with his Coleman Hawkins’ influenced playing followed by Cole with a solo that mixes his virtuosity and restraint. It is followed by Jacquet’s gutbucket tenor before another scintillating Paul solo.
After “Tea For Two” come perhaps the most celebrated performance from the initial concert, “Blues.” Jacquet’s solo on this track is legend as are the percussively rooted solos of Cole and Paul as Lee Young and Miller anchor the rock solid in-the-pocket-groove before the solos of McVea, Johnson and Jacquet. The blues playing here is as good as it gets and Jacquet’s solo is one of the greatest blues solos played by anyone on any instrument. The ballad “Body and Soul,” takes the tempo down with more marvelous playing. Cole is heard singing “Sweet Lorraine,” with Les Paul taking the spot usually held down by Oscar Moore. The performances of “I Found a New Baby,” “Rosetta,” and the brief rendition of “One O’Clock Jump,” provide more opportunity for the aggregation to raise the roof with their exuberant playing, and Cole is marvelous whether comping and trumpeting out a piano solo. Most, or all, of this specific disc has been available on a Verve reissue although that may be long-out-of-print. In any case, the JATP performances here never sound stale to these ears.
The final disc finds Cole primarily in the role of accompanist as he backs Dexter Gordon on a session that includes Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison on trumpet and this 1943 or 1944 session opens with Long Tall Dexter showing a strong Lester Young influence on a group of swing-based tunes including “I Found a New Baby,” “Sweet Lorraine,” and “Rosetta.” The small combo instrumental rendition of “Sweet Lorraine” contrasts with the two vocal renditions presented in this set. Dexter’s session closes with a jumping blues, “I Blowed and Gone.”
The Gordon session is followed by another legendary session, The Lester Young Trio, with the great saxophonist and pianist Cole joined by drummer Buddy Rich. From the opening of “On the Waterfront,” these are, in essence, magical duets between Young and Cole as Rich generally displays a light touch, even on the swinging tempo found on “Somebody Loves Me.” The trio romps on “I Found a New Baby,” while Rich sits out “Peg ‘O My Heart,” a marvelous display of Cole and Young’s magic together. Alternate takes from The Keynoters session are the final performances issued in this compilation.
Fans of Nat King Cole who are interested in the jazz side of this American master certainly will love the music here, although they may already own a good portion of the music released here. The packaging is first-class and includes full discographical and session information and the mastering sounds fine to these weathered ears. This might make a marvelous gift for the holidays or special occasions and should be readily available from a variety of sources. This was a present for myself.
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